Improved folding bedstead



i NITED STATES ATENT Futon.

JOHN HOUSIAUX, OF WASHINGTON CITY, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

IMPROVED FOLDING BED'STEAD.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 38,827, dated June 9, 1C3.

To all whom it muy concern Be it known that I, JOHN HoUsiAUX, ot' the city and county of dashington, in the District of Columbia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Portable Fold-Up Bedsteads, Cots, &c.; and I do hereby declare l that the f'ollowing is a full, clear, and eXactdescription of the eonstructionand operation of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure l represents a side view of the bedstead spread out. Fig. 2 represents an end View ofthe same. Fig. 3 represents one half of the bedstead as folded up. Fig. 4 represents a view of one end of one section of lthe bedstead as folded up. Fig. 5 represents a view of the opposite end thereof, and Fig. 6 represents a portion ofa top plan of the same.

Similar letters of reference where they occur in the'separate figures denote like parts in all the drawings.

To enable others skilled 1n the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe the same with reference to the drawings.

The side rails, A, are made of two pieces of equal length and connected by a hingedjoint, a, like a rulejoint, so as to double over in one direction and be rigid in the opposite direction. The end rails, B, are about oneihalfthe length of the side rails, but may be of double the depth of the side rails, so as to form, when set up, a head and foot board. When, however, a side rail and an end rail are folded up together, as seen at Figs. 4 and 5, they form a compact parallelogram. The end rails, B, are hinged at one of their ends, as at b, to one of the side rails, A, and the hinges b of the two sections-each section bein g composed of' one side rail and one end rail-should be so arranged as to be at diagonal corners of the set-up bedstead. Where the side and end rails are hinged together there is a mitered joint, c, formed to make a good bearing-surface between them.4 The opposite diagonal corners of the set-up bedstead are united, wh en run together, by lugs d L on one passing through mortises in the other and secured by hooks e c, or by -a bolt or pin passing through holes in the protruding portion of the lugs.

f is a rod, which, when the bedstead is folded up, may occupy the position in which it is shown in Fig. 3; but when -the bedstead is set up for use, this rod reaches across from side rail to side rail at about their centers in length, for the purpose of tying and bracing said rails. The legs C of the bedstead are hinged to the side rails, as at g, and can be folded up into grooves or recesses formed in the side rails, as shown in red lines in Fig. 3, when the bedstead is folded up for transportation or for storage. To the legs C are pivoted small braces t', which, in its set-up condition, give more stability to the bedstead, and which, when in its folded-up condition, shut up with the legs in the grooves or recesses in the rails. The sagging bottom Imake of canvas or any other fabric used for such purposes, and furnish it with small rings or eyelets, and the rails furnished with countersunk pins u, over the heads of which the rings or eyelets are passed. rThis makes a light, cheap, and strong bedstead, easily taken down and easily set up, while for transportation or for storage the entire bedstead, with all its parts complete, need not occupy a greater space than three feet in length by about one foot in its transverse dimensions.

Having thus fully described my improvement in portable fold-up bedsteads, what I claim therein as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

.A bedstead composed of two sections, each section being made up of three pieces hinged together, as described, and the two sections united at diagonal corners, substantially in the manner set forth, so that the two sections may, when taken apart, be folded u p, as shown and described.

JO HN HOUSIAUX.

Witnesses:

A. B. S'roUGH'roN, B. W. SPAIN. 

